Adventures on the Wargames Table

Sunday and our final game of the weekend. George and I would be travelling back almost 1400 years to the hills and valleys north-east of Bath , for a War & Conquest game of The Battle of Deorham 577AD ... and it was a real belter of a game! Game 4 - The Battle Deorham 577AD The Romano-British army (let's call them the good guys ;o)) were comprised of three smaller armies - from Bath, Gloucester and Cirencester - each led by their King.  The Saxons were led by King Ceawilin and the Atheling, Cuthwine.  Naturally, since I live in the South-West, I took command of the Romano-British army trying to preserve the fading light of Rome and hold back the hairy Saxon horde! Here's the field of battle.  That ridge line would be where my brave men would make their stand. Here are the two large armies arrayed for battle!  George has done a grand job on these armies, plenty of flags and banners, shield decals, big units... Stunning stuff :o) Two beautiful armies!...

The George Washington pub does a fantastic meal, plus the locals are a nice bunch too.  So, suitably fortified, we returned for our third game of Bolt Action. Game 3 - Assault at Chateau Wartone This would be a straightforward fight representing the Allied push inland on the 7th June. As George had won game 2 (by a whisker!) he, as the attacker, would have a more flexible deployment.  We also swapped sides for a bit of variety.  I would be leading a large gruppe of Panzergrenadiers whilst George fielded his lovely British force. The field of battle with our initial deployments. A Stug and a Churchill play cat and mouse... Being a huge piece of scenery I don't often get the chateau on the table.  It's okay, but the grounds need a little more "shrubbery" and the chateau is definitely going to get a re-paint - it's way too pink and the painting is a bit shonky in places. Chateau Wartone :-D I decided that I would quickly invest the cafe and make it a ...

Saturday started with George manning the Post Office whilst I set up the terrain for game 2.  Business in the PO was quite brisk and I enjoyed having a chat with the locals.  At one point George loudly asked me to stop being so friendly with them as they'd only expect it in the future! :-D Later, Evelyn kindly took over from George so that we could set to. Having held off the attack in game 1 the Germans were alerted and, in the absence of clear orders from OKW, they moved towards the nearby bridge in case the Paras sought to capture it and secure a route inland.  The local German commander had previously received orders to rig the bridge for demolition in case of attack.  So it would be a race... could the Paras de-activate the explosives in time or would Jerry blow them all to pieces? George's win in game 1 meant that he would have the advantage of an extra MG42 entrenched within 12" of the objective.  The crew had been alerted and dragged from their beds ...

Visiting friends for a weekend of wargaming is most definitely one of life's real pleasures!  So with high hopes of a fine time I packed my toys and scenery in to the car and headed North so see top chum George (of http://musingswargameslife.blogspot.com/ fame) for a weekend of Bolt Action and War & Conquest. In a little over 8 hours I was there.  Yes folks, just 8 hours to do 240 miles on our great British motorway network.  Still, I like to look on the bright side, it did afford me time to admire the fine views of the countryside in Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Cheshire, Lancashire, etc.  Not to mention the vibrant urban diversity of places such as Bristol and Birmingham! :-D Anyway... I was very warmly greeted by George and his lovely missus Evelyn (pronounced Ev-lyn of course!).  I'll start by saying a huge thank you to Evelyn for looking after me so well!  Seemingly endless cups of tea, plenty of cake and a truly superb frui...